| We hope you will join us for the 2022 Season of the Forest Hills CSA! What is a CSA? Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a community of individuals who commit to supporting a local farm by purchasing its produce for an entire growing season. In the spring, CSA members buy “shares” of the farm’s yield which helps cover anticipated operation costs and pay the farmer a living wage. In return, members receive farm-fresh vegetables and fruits each week. Locally grown crops are taste better, are more nutritious, and are better for the environment. A summary of the 2022 season offerings Our farm: Angel Family Farm, in Goshen, NY Season: Tuesdays, June 14th through October 25th, 2022 (20 weeks) Distribution: Tuesdays 4-8 pm at The Church-in-the-Gardens, 50 Ascan Ave, Forest Hills, NY 11375 Sign-up deadline: May 31st SHARES Vegetable shares (strawberries and melons too!) weekly whole shares and NEW! biweekly half shares (a full share every other week) Fruit shares: Lewis Waite farm is helping to organize an every other week fruit share, more information TBA Lewis Waite Farm Network CSA Extras: All Forest Hills CSA members are welcome to order from the Lewis Waite Farm Network [LWFN]. Lewis Waite Farm partners with over 60 small farms and producers from NYS and VT to offer the best of what the region produces. LWFN delivers to us every other week VOLUNTEERING All of us volunteer. Obligations will be dependent on the number of members. After share signups are closed, you will receive an email to schedule your volunteering. It will probably be 5-6 hours for the season. OUR FARM After more than 19 years of partnering with us, Matt and Maggie, the farmers at Golden Earthworm Organic Farm, informed us they could no longer deliver to Queens CSAs. After a significant amount of time and research to identify a new vegetable farm for our CSA, the core group is excited to introduce you to our new farm, Angel Family Farm. The Angel family  |
 Ana & Crisostomo (Fily) Ana is the head farmer. Fily, Ana’s husband, farms & is the driver Lizbeth & David Lizbeth, their eldest daughter, farms and is in charge of Finance & Outreach. David, her fiance, farms with the Angels. History of Angel Family Farm Ana grew up on a farm in Progreso, Mexico, where everyone farmed organically, although there was no such word in the local lexicon. Anna and Chrisostomo immigrated to the USA in the 1980s. They lived in Brooklyn and worked various jobs to help raise their four kids, but Ana missed farm life. In 2004, Ana heard about and was accepted to the Grow NYC’s New Farmer Development Project, which helps immigrants with agricultural experience establish small farms. She trained in organic techniques, got help procuring seeds, finding land, and making connections. Two years later, the Angels became a farming family – at least on weekends and in the summer, when they drive up from Brooklyn to work their fields and live in a trailer on the farm. The family owns 15 acres and rents 25 in Goshen, NY, the black dirt region in Orange County, NY, a 1.5 hours drive northwest from Forest Hills. In the winter, they live in Brooklyn and work other jobs. They sow the early season seeds in their apartment, and they bring the plants to Goshen when they are ready to be planted. They have several CSAs and also sell at several farmers’ markets. With this year’s addition of Sunnyside CSA, Farmspot, and us, they hope to grow more for CSAs and decrease their market sales. Farming Practices The Angels follow organic practices but are not certified organic. The soil in the Black Dirt Region is very fertile, and they use few machines in their farming, so the soil needs little nourishment. The only fertilizer they use is compost which they make from any of their vegetables that are not in edible condition. They do not use any pesticides but sometimes use pepper spray (as allowed in organic certification) as a deterrent to insects and mammals. They use crop rotation to minimize pests and for soil health. They have a tractor, but most of their farming is done by hand. They weed by hand and with handheld hoes. They mainly buy organic seeds but sometimes buy non-organic, untreated seeds when they can’t find the seeds they want organically certified, as is allowed on certified organic farms. They do not use GMO or treated seeds. All the produce in our shares is from their farm. They use a well on the farm for irrigation, which is infrequently needed. Most of their electricity is solar. This past winter, they purchased a small plot of land near their primary farmland. This plot has electricity, and they bought a walk-in cooler to keep our harvested vegetables fresh until distribution. Their delivery truck is also refrigerated.       Our CSA Shares Angel Family Farm will deliver fresh vegetables every Tuesday for 20 weeks, June 14th through October 25th, 2022. You will receive a generous amount of 6-8 different vegetable varieties, including herbs, that will change from week to week as the season progresses. So it is similar in size to Golden Earthworm’s shares, but with five fewer weeks to the season, due to the shorter farming season in Orange County. Vegetable shares Full share: $648.00 Middle-Income share: $486 Low-Income share: $324 Half share: $324.00 (Half shares are full-sized shares every other week) Fruit Share Lewis Waite Farm is trying to organize a fruit share. More information to come! Lewis Waite Farm Network CSA Extras All Forest Hills CSA members are welcome to order from the Lewis Waite Farm Network [LWFN]. Lewis Waite Farm partners with over 60 small farms and producers from NYS and VT to offer the best of what the region produces.LWFN delivers to us every other week. More information following the vegetable share information, below PAYMENT and PRICING Administrative fee: $5 The administrative and operating fees are to pay for administrative/operating/mixed-income subsidy costs: for JustFood Network membership, payment to the church for the pre-season room rental (which we have chosen to donate to the church the fees we paid pre-pandemic as a thank you for hosting us), mailing of checks to GEOF via certified mail, and miscellaneous expenses as they come up such as clipboards, pens, and COVID cleaning supplies. Payment is with credit card via TD Bank: 2.98% fee Share price + $5 admin fee + transaction fee = total price Full share: $648.00 + $5 + $19.43 = $672.43 Middle-Income share: $486 + $5 + $14.61 = $505.61 Low-Income share: $324 + $5 + $9.79 = $338.79 Half share: $324.00 + $5 + $9.79 = $338.79  EXAMPLE SHARES Early season: Kale Chamomile Green Lettuce Red lettuce Garlic Scapes Mizuna Peak season: Zucchini Eggplant Tomato Fresh onions Collard greens Carrots Peppermint Potatoes Late season: Winter squash/pumpkin Thyme Onion Potato Carrots Beets Celery Kale This year’s crop plan should be similar. LEWIS WAITE FARM CSA EXTRAS FHCSA members pay LWF directly for your order, both shares and à la carte ordering available. Ordering, payment, and deliveries are all during the season. Deliveries once or twice a month. All members with a vegetable or fruit share may order from the LWF Network. You also have the option to be an LWF-only member and not have another share. See below for more information. Run by Alan and Nancy Brown, of Lewis Waite Farm. They partner with several other farms and small family-run businesses in upstate New York and Vermont to offer a wide array of products fresh from small farms. All FHCSA members will receive regular emails from LWF during the season with ordering information. Read more here. LWFN Products include Apothecary (herbs, salves, and tinctures) Bread, Wraps & Dough Dairy & Eggs Drinks Fish & Seafood Gifts Meat (beef, goat, lamb, pork, & rabbit) Pantry (beans, grains, flours, granola, honey, jam, maple syrup, oil, vinegar, spices, & more) Produce (including mushrooms and frozen berries) Poultry (chicken, duck, and turkey) Prepared MealsSauerkraut & Other Lacto-Fermented Lewis Waite Farm Network-Only Members We have a limited number of only orders from LWFN and do not get a vegetable or fruit shares. You are welcome to only sign up for LWF ordering, keeping in mind that the $5 member fee is per contract, and the volunteer requirement applies to LWFN-only members as well. If you only want to order from LWFN, complete the contract. Members with vegetable or fruit shares do not need to commit to ordering from LWF and may order anytime during the season. COVID PROCEDURES For now, the same Covid-related precautions are still planned to be in place: distribution will be outside on two tables masks must be worn (since valved masks do not protect other people, they are not allowed and do not fulfill the requirement!) clean your hands with the provided alcohol-based sanitizer before touching anything else anyone who enters the breezeway must sign the church list (for potential contact tracing) If any COVID procedures change, all members will be emailed. |
| Learn more about Angel Family Farm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngelFamilyFarm Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelfamilyfarm/ A recent article on them in dirt magazine https://tinyurl.com/dirtmagAngelFamilyFarm A farm video, produced by JustFood in 2012: http://vimeo.com/45161846 A Brooklyn Beet CSA Farm Visit: https://vimeo.com/316620678 They also have lots of brief YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK4c48FkwSMgQYw7TXWdKkA/videos They were featured in the film, What’s on your plate? Available on Amazon Prime Before completing the contract, please read the MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT on our website at https://foresthillscsa.com/fhcsa-policies/ Click on FHCSA 2022 MEMBERSHIP CONTRACT to sign up for a share and become a Forest Hills CSA member this coming season! We hope you will join us! Devon, Helen, Marina, and Tom The Forest Hills CSA Core Group |
Forest Hills CSA 